I don't even know what to say, so I'll just let this article speak for itself.

A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

Last September the marines finally ordered 28,800 sets of additional armor. And that's just the marines. The army has 130,000 soldiers currently in Iraq. It just...I'm just...dumbfounded. Everytime I think this administration has broken my heart, has committed some new, inexcusable act of stupidity and carelessness, I am reminded that there are no depths to their incompetence. To be fair, the army initially chose the set of armor currently on most soldiers as a compromise between protection and weight and movability. I understand that we aren't sending knights into combat. But when the individual soldiers themselves start requested more armor, start fashioning their own additional armor out of scraps, start "hanging their crotch protectors under their arms," as they did two years ago, maybe it's fucking time to listen to the men and women on the ground and protect their asses.

Interestingly, although this article appeared on the front page, above the fold, of this morning's paper edition, as of right now, the article is not even linked on the front page of the website. I'm not saying conspiracy or anything. Just...interesting.